Fire Erupts at an NYPD Evidence Center in Brooklyn - The New York Times

New York|Massive Fire Burns Down Part of an N.Y.P.D. Evidence Center successful Brooklyn

A raging three-alarm occurrence astatine a New York Police Department installation that holds seized vehicles and grounds including DNA from acold cases sent ample plumes of fume billowing crossed the Red Hook vicinity of Brooklyn connected Tuesday, arsenic officials sought to find however galore pending transgression cases would beryllium affected.

The fire, which was inactive burning precocious into the afternoon, mightiness not beryllium contained for respective days, officials said.

Everything wrong the installation was either mislaid oregon damaged, John Hodgens, the occurrence chief, said astatine a quality conference. The occurrence was burning heavy wrong the structure, helium said, and has already caused a information of it to collapse.

Fire boats successful Gowanus Bay blasted jets of h2o astatine the building, known arsenic the Erie Basin Auto Pound. Emergency vehicles, including 3 helicopters and 33 occurrence units, were moving to incorporate the flames aboriginal Tuesday afternoon. About 140 firefighters were astatine the scene, according to the department.

The occurrence was archetypal reported by Police Department contractors moving wrong of the car pound, said Jeffrey Maddrey, the acting main of department, astatine the quality league Tuesday afternoon.

The workers noticed what appeared to beryllium a occurrence that had started connected a retention support and reported it to the Police Department, helium said. The occurrence was called into the Fire Department astatine astir 10:30 a.m.

Three firefighters, 3 exigency aesculapian technicians and 2 civilians were taken to a adjacent infirmary with insignificant injuries, Chief Hodges said.

Containing the occurrence is hard due to the fact that the gathering is “sealed off,” with fewer doors oregon windows for h2o to penetrate from the outside, helium said.

Firefighters had initially attempted to incorporate the occurrence from inside, Chief Hodgens said, but rapidly near due to the fact that of the spot of the flames and due to the fact that “large amounts of combustibles” wrong of the gathering made the concern unstable.

The occurrence is “probably going to spell connected a fewer days,” helium added.

The car lb is 1 of 2 operated by the Police Department — different is successful Springfield Gardens, Queens — and houses vehicles that person been seized arsenic portion of investigations, arsenic good arsenic e-bikes and amerciable motorbikes.

The installation besides holds biologic grounds for acold cases going arsenic acold backmost arsenic 30 years, including DNA from unsolved burglaries and perchance murders, Chief Maddrey said, but it does not location rape kits. Chief Maddrey said that the occurrence was “absolutely” devastating.

The magnitude of the harm won’t beryllium known until catalogs of everything that was stored wrong are reviewed, helium said.

“We expect the N.Y.P.D. and territory attorneys to supply america a afloat accounting of the grounds that was damaged and to instantly pass defence counsel astir idiosyncratic cases that whitethorn person been impacted,” said Redmond Haskins, a spokesperson for the Legal Aid Society, 1 of the city’s largest providers of ineligible services for indigent clients.

In 2012, erstwhile Hurricane Sandy tore done the city, 2 warehouses connected the compound were inundated, damaging hundreds of barrels of grounds and affecting a fig of ongoing cases.

Jonah E. Bromwich contributed reporting.